Hey Kidz! Buy This Book: A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People [Paperback]

Anne Elizabeth Moore (Author), Megan Kelso (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up

A respectful, straightforward how-to guide for youth who have a problem with the way the world works, but don't yet know how to articulate their demands or want to know how to achieve their goals for world change. This book will provide any young adult a solid grounding in current media systems and with hands-on, easy-to-follow instructions to become card-carrying radical activists. With an emphasis on community building, teamwork, historical research and self-expression, this book will also prove useful for improving skills sought after by educational and after-school programmes.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–Moore believes that "kidz" need to "mediate their media" in order to avoid being sucked into the parallel universe of measured falsehoods and mindless trivia that is commercial communications today. In this funny, feisty, and useful handbook, she begins by simply reminding readers that anytime they see a brand name, in any context, it's an advertisement. Once readers' baseline media-awareness levels have been tweaked, she outlines ways in which advertisers attempt to manipulate people, explaining that advertising certainly isn't "cool," but should not be dismissed as merely an inevitable annoyance. Instead, she suggests that it's a demonstrably negative force in the lives of individuals and society as a whole and provides readers with strategies and resources for fighting back against advertisers and Big Media. As is true with her prose style, her suggested methods for corporate confrontation and consumer consciousness-raising sometimes cross the fine line that separates the lively from the loopy. While many of the activist tactics outlined are prankish, Moore is careful to warn readers about forms of demonstration that might be dangerous or illegal. She's less careful about writing for her audience; unfortunately, her language and humor are not always age-appropriate for preteens. Libraries looking for a more balanced treatment of the topic that's actually suitable for all "kidz" should consider Shari Graydon's Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know (Annick, 2003).–Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Hey Kidz! Put down that remote and step away from that magazine! Turn off the radio and the Internet! And for goodness' sake, stop doing your homework! I gotta tell you a secret! Move closer to this book for a second. That's it! Now listen carefully: Every single time you see a logo or hear a brand name, you're looking at an advertisement."

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press/Red Rattle Books (July 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932360352
• ISBN-13: 978-1932360356
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne Elizabeth Moore is a Fulbright scholar, Truthout columnist, and author of Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity (The New Press, 2007) and Hey Kidz, Buy This Book: A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People (Soft Skull, 2004). Co-editor and publisher of now-defunct Punk Planet, founding editor of the Best American Comics series from Houghton Mifflin, Moore teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and works with young women in Cambodia on independent media projects. Moore exhibits her work frequently as conceptual art, has been the subject of two documentary films, and her work appeared on the radio program Snap Judgment and in the Progressive, Bitch, and on Truthout. She has written for The Onion, Feministing, The Stranger, In These Times, The Boston Phoenix, and Tin House. She has twice been noted in the Best American Non-Required Reading series. Her work with young women in Southeast Asia has been featured in Time Out Chicago, Make/Shift, Today's Chicago Woman, and Print magazines, and on GritTV and NPR's Worldview. She recently mounted a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Her latest book for Cantankerous Titles, Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh, is the first in a series of four volumes on independent culture, globalization, and women's rights in Southeast Asia.

She was born in Winner, South Dakota. Seriously.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top notch!, December 16, 2005

By 

Bart King (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hey Kidz! Buy This Book: A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People (Paperback)

Thank you, Anne Elizabeth Moore, for caring enough to write this irreverent and excellent book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Children, December 16, 2006

By 

J. Aragon "Feminist Educator" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hey Kidz! Buy This Book: A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People (Paperback)

I bought this book as a gift for a child in my life. She enjoyed the book and I did, as well. It's definitely a conversation starter for a school-aged child who is interested in marching to her/his own drum.